This blog is about giving voice to the voiceless in occupied Palestine by myself and other contributing journalists who have seen first-hand the horror of Israeli apartheid.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Settlers twice attack Palestinian schoolchildren south of

Note: On 29 September 2004, settlers near Havot Maon attacked myself and a colleague of mine. The reason for the attack was for accompanying five Palestinian children to school. My colleague, Kim Lamberty sustained a broken arm, and badly damaged knee. The attackers punctured my lung, beat me with a baseball bat, threw large stones at my head which, as you can see by the photo on the left, gave me a sizeable lump on the left side of my head.

By Yuval Yoaz, Amos Harel, Nadav Shragai and MichalGreenberg,

Haaretz6 May 2006

Jewish settlers from the Havat Maon settlement locatedsouth of Hebron hurled stones at Palestinian childrentwice on Saturday - once when the children were walking toschool and once as they made their way home.

The children, long-time and frequent targets of settlerattacks, were being escorted by Israel Defense Forcessoldiers when they came under attack.

Two IDF soldiers and four Palestinian children werelightly injured in the clash.

IDF soldiers fired warning shots in the air in an effortto prevent the settlers' attacks. The IDF said theassailants fled to a nearby area of brush and policeforces were searching for them.

Some 50 left-wing activists were attempting to move fromthe village of Khirbet Al-Tawani, where the school islocated, to the children's home village of Umm-Tuba.However, they said the IDF was preventing them from doingso after the area was declared a closed military zone.

An agreement was subsequently reached according to whichan IDF medic would enter Umm-Tuba to examine the childrensaid to have been hurt in the settlers' attacks.

The Maon settlers last week renewed their routineharassment of children from the Palestinian village ofKhirbet Al-Tawani.

The IDF and police routinely provide a jeep in order toprovide the Palestinian children protection from thesettlers as they make their way to school.

Tension building in Hebron

Meanwhile, two police officers were lightly wounded Fridayduring confrontations with settlers in the Beit Shapiraarea of Hebron.

Settlers pelted policemen with eggs and officers have thusfar arrested two settler youths in connection with theriot in the West Bank city.

One of the wounded officers absorbed a blow to the headfrom a bottle of paint thrown by one of the demonstrators.The other policeman was hit in the eye by an egg which wasflung in his direction.

Dozens of settler youths broke into and were holing up inthe Al-Nazar family home on Friday afternoon, Israel Radioreported. The Israel Defense Forces announced the area aclosed military zone and deployed troops to prevent moreyouths from entering the area.

The court ruled that the settlers can be removed forciblyif necessary.

IDF troops were preventing non-residents from entering thearea in an effort to minimize clashes.

Orit Struck, a representative of the Hebron Jewishcommunity, told Israel Radio she doesn't think thesettlers will leave of their own volition.

"I assume that we won't leave voluntarily," she said.

On Thursday night the High Court gave the families until11 A.M. Friday to leave of their own accord, saying thatif they refuse to abide by the court ruling, they will beevicted by security forces.

However, the prosecution asked the court to postpone theevacuation, apparently due to a request from IDFofficials.

Police and IDF officials were concerned that the evictionwould not be completed by sundown Friday, when the Sabbathbegins. It is expected to take a long time because theforces have been ordered to carry out the evacuationcautiously because of the dilapidated condition of thehouse and the narrow stairs. They will also apparently notbe able to use cranes.

Security forces began deploying in and around Hebron onThursday morning in preparation for the forcible evictionof settlers from the building.

The eviction, which was approved a month ago by thedefense minister, was delayed while the High Courtconsidered a petition against the eviction order submittedby the Jewish community of Hebron. The eviction order wasbased on claims that the lease was based on identity fraudcarried out by a Palestinian falsely claiming to be thehome's owner.

More than 1,000 soldiers and police officers will takepart in any evacuation operation. They have explicitinstructions to use great care in removing the occupantsand their belongings from the apartments.

The Jewish settlers in Hebron, who petitioned the HighCourt against the eviction, was expected to conveneThursday night to decide whether to honor the court'sruling, to resist the evacuation, or to put up passiveresistance only.

Attorney Michael Corinaldi, the settlers' lawyer, saidthat once a lower court rules on the legality of thedocuments and the contract involved in the families'occupancy of the Palestinian home, they will be permittedto return.

The community claimed earlier that the fact that the statewas forced to rely on "false data and political argumentssuch as 'the explosive situation in Hebron' and 'fear of aconflagration due to the expansion of the Jewishsettlement' proves like the testimony of a thousandwitnesses that the basis for the eviction is political."

Two of the three families living in the home, known asBeit Shapira, are the Schlissels and the Grabowskis, bothof which lived in Hebron's wholesale market (the Shalhevetneighborhood) until leaving voluntarily a few months agoas part of an agreement with authorities.

Tzippi Schlissel is the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan,who was murdered seven years ago in Tel Rumeida, also inHebron.